Troy girls end skid vs. Brea Olinda

Troy vs. Brea Olinda is one of the best rivalries in Orange County girls basketball, but the Warriors have been on the losing end of some heartbreakers in recent years.

No. 2 Troy snapped a three-game losing streak against the No. 3 Ladycats with a 52-30 triumph in a nonleague game Saturday night at Troy High.

It was the Warriors' first victory over the Ladycats since 2006. They had lost the previous three meetings by a combined seven points.

"Yeah, we knew that," said Troy guard Briana Roberson, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and four steals. "We walked into this game knowing that we haven't beaten them since 2006. We walked out with a 'killer mentality.' We just wanted to bury them and I think we did a really good job executing what we needed to do. I mean, it worked out for the best."

Troy (18-3) has had a habit of struggling early in big games. But that wasn't the case against Brea Olinda. The Warriors used a 15-0 run that stretched from the first quarter into the second quarter to forge a 16-3 lead.

Alecia Dimas, who celebrated her 18th birthday, had the hot hand early with eight points. She was hampered by foul trouble and eventually fouled out with 11 points, but when she was on the court she did damage in the paint.

The other member of Troy's "Big Three," Gabriella Hanson, didn't have her shot working, so she contributed with defense and 16 rebounds.

Troy's smothered Brea Olinda with a mix of presses and a zone defense that had the Ladycats (16-4) working late into the shot clock. Troy limited Brea Olinda to 13 first-half points. Hanson and Roberson picked up a number of steals that lead to easy transition baskets.

"I think these three are heading in the right direction," Troy coach Roger Anderson said of Roberson, Dimas and Hanson. "They are leading the team in the right direction and we will continue to work hard as a team.

"Everybody is fitting in and learning their roles. We're just starting to peak. We always head into February as the place where we want to peak and we have a big game next week against (Long Beach) Poly (on Saturday) to see where we're at and where we need to continue to work on so we can compete on this level."

In other nonleague games:

Aliso Niguel 61, Tesoro 44: Chloe Sharabba had 18 points, including three 3-pointers, and four assists and Hannah Noll had 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals to lift the visiting Wolverines (11-13) over the Titans (11-13).